Constructivist View Research Articles

Self-regulated EFL learning through productive feedback in Iranian private language institutes: a case for sustainable lifelong learning outcomes

Various determinants contribute to the disappointing outcomes of the EFL programmes in non-Anglophone countries, thereby limiting citizens in these countries access to international academic and economic platforms. One such determinant is EFL teachers’ productive feedback practice. Productive feedback is embedded in a constructivist view of learning, follows a learner-centered approach to feedback, and supports self-regulation, and therefore plays a core role in the learning of any language. This paper reports on a sequential mixed-methods study investigating productive feedback practices in EFL programmes in the context of private institutes in Iran. An inventory previously developed by the authors, comprising seven productive feedback features grounded in the literature, allowed for measuring 177 participating EFL teachers' self-reported productive feedback practices. Follow-up individual interviews with ten teachers as a subsample of the larger sample focussed on outliers and extremes emerging from the quantitative data. An integrative approach to reporting our research findings on the quantitative and qualitative data as well as the literature, presents a picture of EFL teachers' productive feedback practices. The quantitative data confirmed that the participating EFL teachers rarely applied productive feedback approaches, while the qualitative data provided a deeper understanding of participant responses and possible determinants influencing their feedback approaches. The findings are of importance to stakeholders involved in EFL who have the responsibility to ensure EFL courses support anticipated learning goals, including lifelong learning opportunities and access to the global society.

EFFECT OF SHORT ENGLISH WRITING ACTIVITY ON FACEBOOK ON SCIENCE AND NON-SCIENCE STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE

This study compares the Science and Non-Science university students’ performance in a short English writing activity on Facebook. In this mainly quantitative study, 86 Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) Independent and Basic English Users from 4 classes (2 Sciences and 2 Non-Sciences), joined 4 separate Facebook Groups, managed by two class teachers. Each week, the teachers posted a pre-selected topic in the groups and the students were instructed to respond to it. The mean performance of the groups was compared by performing a paired samples t-test and an independent samples t-test of the pre-test and post-test. The post-test revealed a significant improvement in the students’ short writing performance (within groups), but no significant difference was observed between the Science and Non-Science groups’ performance (between groups). Individual interviews with the teachers revealed that both groups of students committed similar grammatical, structural, and vocabulary mistakes, however, the Science students were more active and confident in using the English language in the classrooms. In line with the constructivist view of language learning, the study highlights the importance of teachers’ instructions, feedback, monitoring, and encouragement in improving students’ short writing ability and consistency in writing practice.

Disability, Affordances, and the Dogma of Harmony: Socializing the EE-Model of Disability

AbstractRecent years have seen increased interest among 4E cognition scholars in physical disability, leading to the development of the EE-model of disability. This paper contributes to the literature on disability and 4E cognition in three key ways. First, it examines the relationship between the EE-model and social constructivist views that address the bodily reality of disablement, highlighting commonalities and distinctions. Second, it critiques the EE-model’s focus on individual strategies for expanding disabled persons’ affordance landscapes, arguing that disability policy should integrate insights from both the EE-model and social constructivist approaches. Finally, it assesses the EE-model against the “dogma of harmony.” We argue that while the EE-model’s focus on active human-environment collaboration is valuable, it can inadvertently perpetuate this dogma. We contend that integrating certain social constructivist insights can help the EE-model avoid the dogma of harmony.

Identity discourse in teacher education: Developments in national-cultural identities of pre-service teachers in Israel

In our multi-cultural world, it is crucial that teachers have the ability to engage in dialogical and pluralistic discourse on identities. This qualitative study aimed to characterize the process that preservice teachers underwent in their course, “Identity Discourse in the Classroom,” in a teacher education college in Israel. The analysis focused on the development of their national-cultural identity. The results demonstrated that the students moved from ambiguity to clarity and reflexivity concerning their national-cultural identity. They also demonstrated that the course created an infrastructure for the emergence of a non-essentialist identity consciousness, one that reflects a moderate constructivist view.

Academics’ Experiences during Horrible Times: Online Teaching, Learning, and COVID-19

E-Learning has become the new normal in Higher Educational Institutions across South Africa. Hence, intergration of the new learning pedagogies has initiated a shift of the norms on professional development. This paper seeks to unpack the strategies used by lecturers in the face of adversities experienced during the E-learning space pre & post Covid-19. There are strategies advised by teacher autonomy which need to be explored. It might have been better if teacher autonomy was merely being against pressures exerted on the individual teachers. But, it is a means for teachers to advance their personal and professional capability to adapt to the rapidly changing conditions and situations in learning spaces. This paper seeks to unravel an unacquainted new path on the drive of lecturers in their professional development that has not been evident in their training. In socio-politically transforming societies such as South Africa, the absence of adequate structures to implement a range of changing policies, may leave lecturers in despair when trying to access development opportunities. This paper adopts analytic theory and semi-structured interviews to give light to the constructivist views of lecturers who have developed methods during the times of adversity. Purposive sampling of 6 lecturers and 10 students will help the generation of data for this study because even though lectures had to adjust to new methods but students were in the receiving end of all the pressure. This study argues for implementation of best practices for the successful professional development of academics in line with E-learning. The University of Limpopo will be the centre of data generation with ethical considerations requested as well as literature visited. Collected data will be thematically analysed in order to sieve and arrange the necessary information for this study. The newly shared practices will form part of the resolutions to the professional development of academic staff.

Physics teachers’ views of inquiry and classroom practices

Inquiry-based instruction has been suggested and practiced in national and international reports on science education. Scientific inquiry aims to enhance learners’ engagement in doing science through exploration including asking questions, data collection and analysis, and constructing explanations in an iterative process. One of the crucial problems in science education is whether science teachers integrate their views about inquiry into teaching practices. This study examines 30 experienced high school physics teachers’ views about inquiry and their classroom practices. The mixed methods design explored physics teachers’ views through semi-structured interviews and classroom practices through classroom observations conducted by observation protocols. The results showed less agreement between teachers’ views and practices; teachers tended to teach in traditional ways through lecturing although they possessed transitional or constructivist views of inquiry. The results offer science educators further insight into the relationship between views and practices to design and conduct professional development programs.

Læreplananalyse av temaet landformer i norsk grunnskole (1974-2020) sett i lys av sentrale teorier om barns læring

How the theme landforms is treated in Norwegian curricula has changed over years. The aim of this study was to identify and understand such changes, and to analyze how the facilitation of the content harmonizes with central theories of children’s learning. This was a qualitative content analysis. All curricula facilitate landform learning in the pupil's local environment, and work methods that facilitate social interactive processes are strongly emphasized. This harmonizes well with a sociocultural constructivist view of learning. Over time, however, content about landforms has been reduced and become more scientific and academic. An example of this is the introduction of The Geological Cycle in the last curriculum. The reduction of content allows for more in-depth understanding, but academization may also cause alienation. The cultural aspects in this curriculum were also weakened, which does not harmonize with a theory of children's animistic thinking.

Developing University Students’ Assessment Literacy - Theory and Practice

Assessment literacy skills are increasingly recognized as being important for student success in higher education. However, as a field of study, it is not well-researched except in the context of language assessment. This paper delves into critical theoretical underpinnings and practical strategies that can be used to develop assessment literacy among university students. Based on a constructivist view, this paper discusses how social interactions and cultural practices interplay to shape students’ conceptual understanding of assessment. It argues that effective assessment literacy embodies understanding the purposes of assessment, interpreting criteria, and using feedback to improve constantly. This means integrating the development of assessment literacy into curriculum design using experiential learning and developing self-regulated learning strategies. The goal is to provide a primer for university educators and instigate reflection and debate on how best to support students when engaging with diverse assessment practices to enhance their academic achievement and skills for lifelong learning.

Conceptual structure of emotions.

Theories of semantic organization have historically prioritized investigation of concrete concepts pertaining to inanimate objects and natural kinds. As a result, accounts of the conceptual representation of emotions have almost exclusively focused on their juxtaposition with concrete concepts. The present study aims to fill this gap by deriving a large set of normative feature data for emotion concepts and assessing similarities and differences between the featural representation of emotion, nonemotion abstract, and concrete concepts. We hypothesized that differences between the experience of emotions (e.g., happiness and sadness) and the experience of other abstract concepts (e.g., equality and tyranny), specifically regarding the relative importance of interoceptive states, might drive distinctions in the dimensions along which emotion concepts are represented. We also predicted, based on constructionist views of emotion, that emotion concepts might demonstrate more variability in their representation than concrete and other abstract concepts. Participants listed features which we coded into discrete categories and contrasted the feature distributions across conceptual types. Analyses revealed statistically significant differences in the distribution of features among the category types by condition. We also examined variability in the features generated, finding that, contrary to expectation, emotion concepts were associated with less variability. Our results reflect subtle differences between the structure of emotion concepts and the structure of, not only concrete concepts, but also other abstract concepts. We interpret these findings in the context of our sample, which was restricted to native English speakers, and discuss the importance of validating these findings across speakers of different languages. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Constructionist views on Construction Grammar

Constructionist views on Construction Grammar

An exploratory study of epistemological stances among teachers and secondary IV history students in Quebec

An analysis of the history curriculum (MEES, 2007, 2017) as taught in Quebec Secondary schools shows that it encourages the development of a constructivist view of history, focused on the historical method and on developing skills and competencies in students (Boutonnet, 2017; Cardin, Éthier & Meunier, 2010; Duquette, 2020; Éthier, Boutonnet, Demers & Lefrançois, 2017; Éthier, Cardin & Lefrançois, 2014). Yet some scholars (Demers, 2012; Moisan, 2010; Yelle, 2016) have noted the conflicting presence of two epistemological stances toward history among Quebec teachers: history that serves as a “memory reservoir”, or history as a science that develops intellectual qualities. These diverging views of history can lead to different teaching styles and usage in the classroom. Given tensions in the educational community between the Quebec ministerial exam (Blouin, 2020; Déry, 2016)—which is predicated on the concept that there can only be one correct answer—and the constructivst curriculum, between the stances of the teachers themselves and the representations of history among the general public (Éthier, Lefrançois & Joly-Lavoie, 2018; Rosenzweig, 2000) some questions remain: how do students view the learning of history? How do teachers react to these representations when confronted with them? To answer these questions, we conducted an exploratory study in which 332 students completed a questionnaire (Maggioni, 2010; Maggioni, VanSledright & Alexander, 2009; Miguel Revilla, Carril Merino & Sánchez Agustí, 2017) on their representations of history. We also held interviews with eight teachers to further explore how beliefs and epistemology are constructed in history class. We used these questionnaires and interviews to gain insight into part of this construction.

교수학습에 관한 전통주의와 구성주의 접근으로 살펴본 예비 화학교사의 신념 탐색

This study explored pre-service chemistry teachers’ beliefs related to constructivist and traditional approaches to teaching and learning. In addition, this was examined focusing on 3rd and 4th graders who experienced teaching practicum and 1st and 2nd graders who did not experience teaching practicum. To this end, items developed by Woolley, Benjamin, & Woolley (2004) for the assessment of teaching and learning beliefs were utilized, with 75 pre-service chemistry teachers participating in the survey. An exploratory factor analysis identified six items related to traditional educational views and five items related to constructivist views for belief analysis. Differences between these educational views were compared using paired sample t-tests, and differences in beliefs across groups and items were compared using ANOVA. Overall, the group with teaching practicum experience showed statistically higher beliefs in constructivist educational views, whereas the group without experience showed no statistical difference. A detailed items analysis revealed higher beliefs in traditional education views in practices of written assessments and structured discussion classes. In the constructivist view, beliefs were statistically lower in informal student evaluations. Group analysis showed statistically higher beliefs in constructivist educational views among those with teaching practicum experience compared to those without. This suggests the value of teaching practicum experience in enhancing pre-service teachers’ beliefs in constructivist education.

The origin and function of external representations

External representations ( ERs) are objects or performances in the world whose proper function is to communicate about other things in the world. Why and how did we make them, and what do they give us? We outline a simple framework for thinking about ERs grounded in modern machine learning. We propose a minimal set of neural mechanisms needed for open-ended ER production. Our constructivist enactive view contrasts with nativist views which propose specialist neural modules requiring symbolic internal representations. We propose a plausible set of (biological and cultural) evolutionary steps to full Gricean symbolic communication via a set of increasingly complex enactive algorithms for ER production. A pragmatic space of games is defined, which includes not only fully cooperative language games but also science, art, and evolved signal manipulation games. This space is defined by the complexity of learning needed by sender and receiver. We propose that one important step towards open-ended ER use was selection for bush reading, which like mind-reading is an inferential process requiring complex contextual and syntactic understanding of cues about events displaced in space and time. Bush reading pre-adapted receivers to be receptive, competent, and perspicacious interpreters of later intentionally produced signals about hidden topics such as felt mental states. This paved the way for minimally Gricean communication, which subsequently could be bootstrapped into explicit theories of mind, folk psychology narratives, and symbolic language in general. Recent findings in cognitive archaeology are integrated within the framework, and new experiments in machine learning suggested.

Reflective professional learning practices of Ethiopian primary school teachers: the gap between practice and theory

ABSTRACT This study explored the discrepancy between the actual reflective professional learning practice of Ethiopian primary school teachers and what has been voiced theoretically. The study employed a constructivist world view, which prompted qualitative methods of inquiry. The data-gathering tools used were in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs). The thematic analysis indicated that there exists a gap between the actual reflective practice of primary school teachers and what has been voiced theoretically. The absurdly low payment of teachers is found to be the main reason that demotivated teachers from engaging in continuing reflective practice to improve their knowledge and practice. Teachers seem to have lost passion and enthusiasm for professional learning activities, and they assume reflection merely for compliance purposes. This resulted in pseudo-reflective professional learning practice where the link between theory and practice is loose.

A gymnastics coaches’ professional development program: exploring a needs-focused social learning space

ABSTRACT Background: Learning is a social, situational process. Effective coaches consistently apply situationally appropriate coaching knowledge to improve athletes’ developmental outcomes. Learning experiences should be cognizant of coaches’ learning needs and capacity to apply knowledge to facilitate athletes’ holistic development. This involves meaningful learning experiences tailored to coaches’ contextual learning needs. The use of social learning theory in supporting coach learning and development has been recommended in providing meaningful learning environments closer to coaches’ realities. Purpose: This study explored the impact of a professional development program designed to create a social learning space (SLS) for competitive youth artistic gymnastics coaches and evaluate the value created therein. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which coaches generated a SLS and the value the coaches created through their participation in the program. Methods: Six coaches joined a weekly gathering over five weeks. Data comprised transcribed video records of the gatherings, a focus group with the coaches, a semi-structured interview with the facilitator of the gatherings, and the researcher’s notes. Thematic analysis was employed to inductively analyze the creation of the SLS and deductively analyze the value created using the value creation framework (the VCF). Findings: The findings revealed that facilitating a learning opportunity based on SLS elements can result in coaches creating a SLS. Through building productive relationships to learn to make a difference in their practices, the coaches created value. Specifically, the coaches broadened their perspectives on athlete development, deepened their understanding of gymnasts’ developmental needs, and began to transform some of their current coaching practices. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the promotion of a professional development program focusing on coaches’ learning needs using the elements of SLS and the tenets of the constructivist view of learning. The SLS structure of this study has implications for the development and implementation of professional development programs for coaches. Future studies on designing professional development opportunities for coaches should expand on the different uses of the SLS approach as a more pervasive structure of social learning, drawing on complementary principles with theories and adopting a longitudinal perspective.

Towards a constructivist view of instructional explanations as a core practice of science teachers

AbstractInstructional explanations are sometimes viewed as part of a nonconstructivist, solely teacher‐centered learning environment, leading to the perception that they are ineffective or inappropriate for teaching science. Consequently, teacher education programmes seldom focus on preparing teachers to explain scientific concepts effectively. Interestingly, the perception of a specific kind of instructional explanation in teaching has evolved in recent years: explanatory videos, in particular, are being viewed as promising digital tools for learning. This article asserts that instructional explanations constitute integral components within nearly all learning environments where communication about science takes place. It has two goals. Firstly, the article aims to develop a coherent, constructivist theory of explaining, including both teacher explanations and explanatory videos. This theory offers an inductive‐statistical explanation of the underlying mechanisms of communicative situations that involve experts and novices. Secondly, based on this constructivist perspective, the article distinguishes instructional explanations from scientific explanations and argumentation. It contends that (a) reducing instructional explanations solely to teacher‐centered, didactic teaching represents a misconception with potentially adverse effects and (b) it also is a misconception that instructional explanations, scientific explanations, and argumentation are (nearly) interchangeable. The paper argues that instructional explanations, including both teacher explanations and explanatory videos, are not only a potentially effective part of all kinds of science teaching but also a core practice of science teachers.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THEORETICAL VIEWS ON THE ROLE OF NATIONALISM IN SOCIO-POLITICAL PROCESSES

The article presents an analysis of various concepts of nationalism as a socio-political phenomenon. The variety of approaches to understanding the phenomenon of nationalism indicates the absence of a single universal theory. An attempt has been made to consider the rather complex problems of the nation and nationalism, based on the most influential concepts. The main attention is paid to the key theories of the nation and nationalism that developed in the 20th century. According to the main methods of research and analysis of the problems of nationalism, the following areas of research can be distinguished. First of all, primordialism, which substantiates the uniqueness of the phenomenon of nationalism. The communicative direction considers nationalism as the main tool for the modernization of traditional society. Constructivist theories view nations and nationalism as the result of purposeful activity. The nation, according to constructivism, is an artificial social entity. From the point of view of functionalists, the origin and development of nationalism is associated with the implementation of a certain social function. Representatives of functionalism see the main task of nationalism in ensuring the stability of social processes. The formation of nationalism is associated with the modernization of society, the emergence of compulsory education and common cultural values. The analysis carried out allowed the authors to conclude that these approaches can be the basis for researching the phenomenon of nationalism and developing practical methods for solving problems in the field of national policy in a multi-ethnic state.

Speech-Language Pathologists' Use of Side-Lying Position in Infant Modified Barium Swallow Studies: A Qualitative Investigation

Purpose: This qualitative study explored the practices of hospital-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) conducting modified barium swallow studies (MBS) for infants at risk for dysphagia. Specifically, this research aimed to determine whether or not SLPs use side-lying position during MBS, to examine possible differences in the use of positioning, and to better understand SLPs' perceptions and experiences in this practice. Using a constructivist view, research questions guiding this inquiry were as follows: What is the current practice of hospital-based pediatric SLPs in regard to the use of side-lying position during infant MBS? What is the experience of the hospital-based SLP in their use of side-lying position during MBS? How do SLPs report perceived barriers or benefits to using side-lying position during MBS? Method: Employing a purposive-convenience sampling technique, data were collected using semistructured interviews of SLPs serving at-risk infants with dysphagia. All participants were practicing in Level-III or -IV neonatal intensive care units. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, loaded into NVivo, and coded using initial and consensus coding. Themes achieved saturation following six interviews. Results: Three themes emerged from the analysis: (a) variations in practice patterns, (b) factors influencing clinical practice, and (c) items that SLPs identified as needs to facilitate change in their clinical practice. Conclusions: Although SLPs acknowledged the importance of MBS replicating an infant's typical feeding, some SLPs who consistently use side-lying position during feeding do not assess feeding in side-lying position during MBS. This inconsistency in practice results from SLPs' perceived barriers, including lack of experience, concern over interdisciplinary conflict, need for MBS protocols, and lack of research on the potential impacts of side-lying positioning on swallowing. Participants reported the need for research to determine whether side-lying position alters, possibly improves, swallow functions and safety (e.g., airway protection) for at-risk infants.

Pedagogical construction grammar

Abstract The concept of constructions has become increasingly important in theories of language acquisition and use during the last 20 years. Constructions are form-meaning pairings that are learned and stored as pieces of linguistic knowledge. Fillmore, Kay, and O’Conner (1988), and Goldberg (1995, 2006, 2019) were among the first linguists who paved the way for this alternative constructivist view on grammar. Since then, Construction Grammar (CxG) has become a widely accepted descriptive and processing model that is based on a large body of scientific research (e.g., Herbst, Schmid, & Faulhaber, 2014; Herbst, 2016; Hilpert, 2019; Hoffmann, 2022; Stefanowitsch, 2011). However, it is only recently that linguists have addressed the question of whether second/foreign language learners’ linguistic competence depends on constructions (e.g., Boas, 2022; De Knop & Gilquin, 2016). If CxG is widely recognized in the branch of first language acquisition, it is also indispensable to transfer this concept to Applied Linguistics to design suitable teaching materials and methods. Drawing upon the proposition “foreign language learning is construction learning” (Ellis, 2001; Herbst, 2016), this article aims to suggest a proposal for teaching English collocations following Herbst’s (2016) seven principles of Pedagogical Construction Grammar (PCxG). In particular, this article aims to suggest ways to apply these principles to developing supplementary teaching materials, activities, and tasks for teaching English collocations and collostructions.

Emotion, Language and Aesthetic Expression: On Motherwell and His Art

Robert Motherwell is regarded as one of the great American abstract expressionists. He was highly intelligent and articulate about his art. In this essay, I explore the thesis that the ability to make fine category discriminations, which can be indexed by language, is necessary to produce great art. I argue that Motherwell might not have been as great an artist if he were not so articulate. Relying on a constructivist view, I argue that fine-grained categories of human emotions can be represented in language; language carves out affective space in a way that makes these states explicit and easier to communicate. Ineffability in art implies exhausting the effable. Being articulate about emotions allows one to reach for higher states of ineffability and aspire to great art.